SYLLABUS
Health Literacy COMM 7397
Spring 2006
Associate Professor:
Jim L. Query, Jr., Ph.D.
Phone: Office (713) 743-8608; Fax (713) 743-2876
E-mail: jquery@uh.edu (primary); alternate email to be used only if UH goes down is profjim90@hotmail.com.
Office Location:
Communications Bldg., 203G. Hours: M 9-10am; T 3-4pm; Virtual meetings by appt. and password. Other times by appointment also.
Home Page:
This directory lists all current links at my website. I believe you will find my site has lots of useful info, a bulletin board, and links to several key sites. Be sure to visit it and regularly.
Email Requirement and Response Policy Easing Your Access:
You will be receiving a variety of class-related materials---such as discussion questions, articles in PDF format, Self-Review Questions (SRQs), and notices of class content changes and grades---in an electronic format (using rich text file [rtf], word [doc], and/or inside the box approaches); hence, it is REQUIRED that you have and regularly peruse an active email account.
Notwithstanding my office hours above, it is not always possible to have a face-face meeting with me (due to my circumstances or yours). In case a face-face meeting is not possible, I thus encourage you to email me about any concerns or questions you may have as the semester unfolds. Barring some difficulty, I generally respond to all emails within 48 hrs beginning Monday mornings at 7am until Friday afternoons at 3pm. As my bulletin board indicates, go to http://www.homestead.com/profjims/classemailposts.html.
NO class-wide emails are sent out after 3pm on Fridays, except in the cases of technological difficulties or emergencies.
Course Overview:
Concurrent with the escalating interest in and legitimization of Health Communication as a field of study and practice, there has been a corresponding growth in the study and advocacy for health literacy. Defined by Healthy People 2010 as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions, ” health literacy encompasses more than one’s knowledge and understanding about personal health status. Indeed, the process of health literacy also should encompass literacy about wellness, health care delivery, and health advocacy. As Nutbeam (1998) cogently stated, “Health literacy means more than being able to read pamphlets and make appointments. By improving people’s access to health information, and their capacity to use it effectively, health literacy is critical to empowerment” (p. 357).
Drawing from the Healthy People 2010 report and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the following areas most often comprise health literacy:
Patient-physician communication
Drug labeling
Medical instructions and medical compliance
Health information publications and other resources
Informed consent
Responding to medical and insurance forms
Giving patient history
Public health training
Assessments for allied professional programs, such as social work and speech-language pathology
This course is designed to help you explore, understand, and appreciate the challenge of health literacy through an examination and analysis of health communication research, case studies, and materials delivered through a variety of media outlets. Pedagogical strategies, including simulations and case study analyses, will help integrate theory and practice and assist you in becoming more health literate, as well.
Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, you should be empowered to:
1)understand and explain the impact of health literacy levels on a variety of therapeutic and adverse health outcomes;
2)identify, explain, and conceptually develop communication-based interventions to ensure health messages are accessed, understood, and appropriately applied;
3)explain and develop an NIH-geared concept paper (which corresponds to Chapters One and Two of a thesis) that justifies a prospective communication-based health literacy intervention and advances specific aims that would be measurable via multi-methodological research designs
Required Texts:
Institute of Medicine (2004). Health literacy: A prescription to end confusion. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Schwartzberg, J., VanGeest, J. B., & Wang, C. C., (Eds.). (2005). Understanding health literacy: Implications for medicine and public health. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association.
Suggested Documentation Reference:
American Psychological Association (1999). Publication manual of the APA, (5th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.
You need not purchase the APA manual. All written work, however, will follow its standards. Visit my homepage to learn how to use APA and to use a FAST and FREE service to build your bibliography (bib): Dr. Flint's StyleWizard [at the bottom of the classes' page].
Absence Policy:
Learning is a reciprocal process. Barring illness, emergency, work crisis, or relational termination (only 1 per term), I expect you to regularly attend and participate in class and your working groups. Any work missed during an UNEXCUSED absence is not allowed to be made up. You are responsible for all materials covered, all handouts distributed, and all announcements made in class. Please do not place me in this unenviable position.
Makeups:
Makeups for missed examinations will be considered ONLY IF: you call the professor at (713) 743-8608 BEFORE the time of the hour exam or quiz; AND your excuse is valid, legitimate and documented. Be advised also that I reserve the right to alter the format of any makeup exam. Hence, if the regular exam was primarily objective, the makeup could become comprehensive essay and/or problem applications. Failure to take an exam will result in a grade of F, and that score will be used in final grade calculations.
Late Assignments:
Late work may be turned in with the following penalties: (l) If the work is not handed at the beginning of the regularly scheduled class time, a 30 percent penalty will be incurred. (2) For each consecutive day that the work is late, a 10-percent penalty will also be incurred. Hence, if a paper is due during the Wednesdayclass period, and it is received the next day, Thursday, the penalty would be minus 40 percent.
Plagiarism / Cheating:
Plagiarism has many forms. At one level, it is defined as using the ideas, organization, supporting sources, and/or words of another, without giving credit to the original author(s). Giving credit has two dimensions: (1) for material which is in the exact wording of the source's author(s), quote marks should be used to enclose the verbatim pull, accompanied by author(s)' names, year of piece, and exact page number(s); and (2) for material which is paraphrased, the author(s)' names, year of piece, and exact page number(s) are expected. The APA manual details the appropriate format.
Plagiarism also includes: using another student's paper, using another person's unpublished work, submitting a rewritten or revised version of another person's work, allowing another or paying another to write a paper for one's own benefit, purchasing and using for course credit a pre-written paper, as well as using another's paper available on the Internet. Note also that I am well versed in the recent practice of hiring ghost-writers via E-bay...Hmmm, wonder what would happen if the hired gun happens to be the course professor?
WARNING: I am very familiar with at least 150 web sites where students can download pre-written research papers. As a matter of policy, I regularly submit student papers to a national plagiarism checking service. SUBMISSION OF A PRE-WRITTEN PAPER, EVEN IN MODIFIED FORM, WILL TRIGGER AN F FOR THE ASSIGNMENT, AN F FOR THE COURSE, AND REFERRAL TO THE GRADUATE DIRECTOR, SOC DIRECTOR, and GPS DEAN. The same penalties will apply to ghost-written papers. The grade for any assignment containing plagiarized material will be an F. The course grade will also be an F. Group members should ensure that all of the group project material is original or that it has been ACCURATELY DOCUMENTED through appropriate citations. THESE PENALTIES WILL BE APPLIED AT THE TIME OF DISCOVERY AND ALL PREVIOUS GRADES WILL BE DEEMED MOOT.
Academic misconduct on a quiz or examination will also result in course failure. Misconduct includes any unauthorized removal of an exam or quiz from the classroom at all times. Misconduct also includes accessing a cell phone during the exam’s administration. Such behavior will trigger an F for that exam or quiz, and a course grade of F. See the current UH University Catalog for an explanation of these policies.
Required Assignments:
One essay-based exam covering the text readings, guest lectures, and other assigned readings.
Conceptual Précis Justifying a Prospective Health Lit Intervention – Using a team of your peers as sounding boards, you will select a pressing area of health literacy. You will develop a conceptual, theoretically- driven document (an extended NIH concept paper, corresponding to Chapters 1 and 2 of a thesis for students early in their grad studies and Chapters 3, 4 (partial), and 5 for students later in their program) that explicates the nature of the issue, its prevalence, key forces contributing to the issue that are amendable to communication-based interventions, review relevant literature, and then advance specific aims that can be assessed in prospective qualitative and quantitative data collection efforts. Anticipated length = 24-30 pages.
A prospectus (12-15 pp.) of the NIH concept paper will be completed individually, although you will share ideas with group members.
A final report (12-15 pp.) of the précis will be completed individually, although you will share ideas with group members.
One in-class PowerPoint presentation that examines research targeting various content areas of health literacy.
Course Method:
This course will use a lecture discussion format, in-class exercises, working groups, and technology. Although the lectures are drawn from the readings, there will be material additions and deletions. Additional material may be presented by guest lecturers.
To enhance your class performance, it is helpful to first skim the assigned readings, peruse the material at length, take good lecture notes, and then review the material in conjunction with your notes/ study guides. As the quizzes and exam consist of applied, associative, and some recall items, extensive cramming is usually related to poor performance.
Course Instructional Aids:
My teaching tools include the following:
extensive web site;
working grp web sites;
online individual grade status reports;
online office hours by appointment and password;
online study review sessions;
online chats with Communication and related discipline scholars
regular emails and/or faxes if necessary;
lecture handouts and self-review questions;
sample quiz and exam questions;
detailed exam study guides;
mc exam/quiz challenges;
class exercises;
risk-free reviews.
Other Course Performance Tips:
I am often asked for suggestions on how to do well in my courses. Although I can make no warranty or guarantee, here are some tips which have been helpful to others:
Set short-term goals. Upon attaining these, reward yourself.
If a goal is not met, reflect on the experience and seek to refine or identify your preparation strategies. Many times, a brief meeting with me can also be helpful.
Using the lecture handouts and self reviews, regularly review the assigned readings closely.
Do not just memorize material; know it well enough that you can recognize the concept(s) or principle(s) in novel examples.
Regularly work through all class handouts. These have payoffs.
Take good notes; feel free also to record inclass lectures.
Do ask questions. I want us to be on the same page.
Read carefully during quizzes and exams. Consider one question at a time. Also, look for questions that are related.
Attempt to view me not as THE EVALUATOR, but as THE COACH.
Try to identify your MOST demanding judge and Competition...Hint---you should already be very familiar with this person *S*
I also have supplied you with advice from on my website (and it will be updated as well).
Writing Considerations:
All written work is to be typed, double-spaced, and documented according to APA. Please refer to the APA handout. HANDWRITTEN, UNDOCUMENTED, AND/OR POORLY DOCUMENTED WORK WILL NOT RECEIVE A PASSING GRADE. The writing style will be in the third person and correspond to university-level standards. Specific guidelines are set forth in the writing standard guide, and ALL WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS SHOULD FOLLOW THESE SPECIFICATIONS. See my classes’ page on the website.
Course Assignments and Weights:
Midterm Exam 40 percent
Presentation 10 percent
Prospectus 25 percent
Final Report 25 percent
Grading Scale
Although there is NO standard scale, 90% = A; 89% = A-- ; 85% = B+ 80% = B; 79% = B-- 75%= C+ 70% = C 69% = C-- 65% = D+ 60% = D 59% = D-- 58% or less = F
Grading Transformation Scale:
A twelve transformation point scale is used, with 1 representing an A and 12 representing an F.” The cut-offs follow: 1-2.49 = A; 2.50-2.99 = A-- ; 3.0-3.5 = B+; 3.51-4.99 = B; 5.00-5.50 = B--; 5.51-6.50 = C+; 6.51-7.99 = C; 8.00-8.50 = C-- 8.51-9.99 = D+ ; 10.00-10.50 = D; 10.51-11.99 = D--; 12.00 or greater = F. All grades are possible.
Tentative Course Calendar
IOM= Institute of Medicine Text
SCH= Schwartzberg et al. Text
Week 1
Course Overview; Library Presentation; IOM Ch1; Dist two articles
Week 2
IOM Chs 1-2; SCH Ch2; Team meetings.
Week 3
IOM Ch3; SCH Ch3; Project Team Meetings
Week 4
IOM Ch4; SCH Chs 3-4; one research article drawn from working bib; Project Team Meetings
Week 5
IOM Ch5; SCH 5; Risk free prospectus due, February 22
Week 6
IOM Chs 6-7
Week 7
SCH 6-7; Final prospectus due, March 1
Week 8
Midterm Exam; March 8
Week 9
SCH 7 and two research articles
Weeks 10-12
SCH 8-10; In class presentations of research articles; Project Team Presentations; Final report due May 10
KEY DATES
FEBRUARY 10, 2006—LAST DAY TO APPLY FOR GRADUATION FOR THOSE PLANNING TO GRADUATE IN MAY.
FEBRUARY 14, 2006—LAST DAY TO DROP A COURSE OR WITHDRAW WITHOUT RECEIVING A GRADE
MARCH 13-18---SPRING BREAK
APRIL 4----LAST DAY TO DROP A COURSE OR WITHDRAW
